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Camel Camp and Beyond: Utopia Artists of the Eastern Desert
Susan Pitjara Hunter | Awely – Body Paint 180 x 180 cm Jap 013016 Camel Camp is one of about twenty outstation camps on the Utopia Homelands. These small settlements have been the basis of family life for the Alywarr and Anmatyerr people who first gained freehold rights to the Utopia lands in 1978. The…
Art & Life at Camel Camp on Utopia Homelands
Sonja Chalmers is the co-ordinator of an independent arts centre at Camel Camp, Utopia. Here she talks about her work with the artists. Can you tell us a bit about Camel Camp? Camel Camp is on Utopia, an Aboriginal freehold property about 250 kilometers northeast of Alice Springs. Camel Camp is one of around 20…
Josie Petrick Kemarre on Witch Doctors, Family & Art
Josie (Josepha) Petrick Kemarre is an Anmatyerre-speaking artist from Central Australia. She divides her time between her family’s traditional land and the town of Alice Springs. In this interview, she talks about seeing a witch doctor, her painting and family. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Santa Teresa and left when I was married at 16.…
George Tuckerbox: Rare Maps of A Lost Desert Land
Artist George Tuckerbox has seen the ancient and the ultra modern. He can remember first contact with white people. He’s been a stockman and drover, worked with bullock teams, been a ceremonial singer and performer and an exhibiting artist. He has been through droughts and driving cyclonic rains. He’s performed traditional dance in Tokyo. In a full life with many highlights it is…
NATSIAA 2016 – Exciting Times for Indigenous Art in Darwin
Ian Plunkett looks back at the NATSIAA 2016 Art Awards and associated Aboriginal art events in Darwin. I’m just back from Darwin Art Fair and it was great. It was one of the best Art Fairs for quite a few years.The Telstra Art Awards, or NATSIAA, were of a particularly high standard this year. They seem to…
In Conversation With Maria Josette Orsto
My favourite place is the Art Center. That’s where I go and sit and paint and look at the view. The Art Center is where I can look and concentrate on painting. I see the others painting. I can see the boys paint. I can see the sea life. It gets me thinking about doing my own design. I work quietly…
Indigenous Culture In Schools: Sarrita King’s Perspective
By: David Wroth, Japingka Gallery, 2016 Sarrita King has paintings in major Australian and international art collections. In this article she discusses how she would like to see Aboriginal art explored in schools. She has a message for teachers. What did you see being taught about Australian indigenous culture at school? I feel like I was informed but I…
The Wangkatjungka Remote School Mentors Project – Part 1
The Principal’s Story – Keith Spencer In 2009 a project at Wangkatjungka Remote Community School brought the teenagers and elders together. The project boosted school attendance to unheard of levels as well as creating an exciting event at Japingka Gallery. Here is the story of that project told by Keith Spencer, Principal of Wangkatjungka Remote School at that time. Quick…
The Wangkatjungka Remote School Mentors Project – Part 2
The Project Facilitator’s Story – David Wroth In 2009 a project at Wangkatjungka Remote Community School brought the teenagers and elders together. The project boosted school attendance to unheard of levels as well as creating an exciting event at Japingka Gallery. Here is the story of that project told by David Wroth of Japingka Aboriginal…
The Wangkatjungka Remote School Mentors Project – Part 3
The Gallery Director’s Story – Ian Plunkett In 2009 a project at Wangkatjungka Remote Community School brought the teenagers and elders together. The project boosted school attendance to unheard of levels as well as creating an exciting event at Japingka Gallery. Here is the story of that project told by Ian Plunkett. Quick links: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The…
Tiwi Design Art Centre: A Peaceful Place For Art
By: David Wroth, Japingka Gallery, 2016 Dianne is Studio Co-ordinator for Tiwi Design Art Centre on Bathurst in the Tiwi Islands. In this article she talks about the diversity of her role. She reflects on cultural change within the Arts Centre, the No Humbug rule, wish lists, Work for the Dole and sister girls. Where is the Tiwi…
The Art & Influence of Bella Kelly
Annette Davis, from the City of Albany’s Vancouver Arts Centre is the curator of the Bella Kelly Retrospective, a project supported by the Departments of Culture and the Arts and Regional Development, Royalties for Regions and Country Arts WA. In this interview Annette talks about the artist and her place in history. She discusses the proposal that Bella Kelly…
Maria Josette Orsto and Art From the Tiwi Islands
We’ve just put up some impressive ochre paintings by Maria Josette Orsto. She’s using some of the ceremonial designs from Tiwi Islands in her work. This artist has a strong family tradition of painting and design. Maria has worked as an artist from a young age, helping out her father Declan Apuatimi with his painting and carving. These impressive…
Sarrita King: Fire And What It Is To Be Human
In this interview, Sarrita King talks about the Elements series and the Fire story, as well as the influences of her father William King Jungala and sister Tarisse King. I’ll tell you a story. It brings a smile to my face because it’s so much about my Dad. He would always invite people in by telling a…
Jade Dolman’s Passion For Aboriginal Art Education
Boorloo/Perth artist Jade Dolman was barely out of high school when she realised her passion for First Nations art education. Through her consultancy J.D. Penangke she has run school workshops to get children excited about Aboriginal art and culture. Now Jade is working full time in large scale mural projects. Here she talks about her…
Sarrita & Tarisse King – Reflecting On Gurindji and Wave Hill
Our next exhibition at Japingka Gallery features new works by Sarrita King and Tarisse King, opening 8th April 2016 in Fremantle. This year both Tarisse and Sarrita are thinking about their father William King Jungala, and about his country around Wave Hill. This place is about 600 kilometres south of Darwin and it is the…
Ana Nail – Curriculum, Aboriginal Art and Intent
Geographe Primary School Visual Arts teacher Ana Nail has a passion for helping her students understand Aboriginal art. Her work in this area has been recognised by a WA Premier’s Primary Teacher of the Year award. Ana contributes to both National and State arts curriculum development. In this interview Ana reflects on what is changing…
How I Curate An Aboriginal Art Exhibition at Japingka
I’ve been curating Aboriginal art at Japingka for thirty years and in that time I’ve never had to explain to anyone what I’m doing. A friend dropped by the other day and commented on how very different the room feels with some new paintings up. Our summer exhibition has been hanging for a couple of…
Remarkable Contemporary Aboriginal Fine Dot Painting
In this article Japingka’s Ian Plunkett discusses the work of five contemporary fine dot artists. When it comes to fine dot painting, I definitely have my own favourites. These are people who I admire and whose technique is taking this exciting style of art in a slightly different direction. Jorna Newberry Jorna is the most…
Kimberley Ochre Painters – The Old And New
Our next exhibition is an overview of three generations of Kimberley ochre painters. The collection contains some very traditional and well-known artists including Rover Thomas, Jack Britten, Hector Jandany, Henry Wambini and Queenie McKenzie. Many of these artists have passed away now and they are now regarded as the most significant names of the East…
Turbo Brown – From Homeless To Art World Rising Star
We have a new exhibition opening this month in Gallery 2 featuring the works of Turbo Brown. Turbo has made a bit of a name for himself painting these very direct images of birds and animals from the Australian bush. Born in 1967, Trevor ‘Turbo’ Brown is a Latje Latje man who grew up in…
Petrina Bedford and Her Grandfather Jack Dale Mengenen
Petrina Bedford is a third generation contemporary indigenous artist. Her grandfathers were the famous painters Jack Dale Mengenen on her mother’s side and Paddy Bedford on her father’s side. Her mother is the Ngarinyin artist Edna Dale. Encouraged by Jack Dale, Petrina painted from a very young age. In this interview she talks about this…
What My Father Jack Dale Taught Me
In this interview, Kimberley artist Edna Dale talks about her famous father, the artist Jack Dale Mengenen. About Jack Dale, Jack was born with European/Indigenous parentage at a time when this was unacceptable within both cultures. Jack’s mother hid him from the welfare workers who routinely removed mixed-race children from their families. Jack grew up…
Is Process More Important Than Outcome in Aboriginal Art?
In October an exhibition of Aboriginal art work featuring several hundred paintings opened in Bucharest in Romania. Japingka took a collection of work to that exhibition. For many in the European audience it was their first opportunity to see Aboriginal art and they asked some interesting questions. In this article David Wroth discusses the question…
Thoughts From An Opening Night – Ceremonial Songs & Art
Recently I was speaking at the opening of the exhibition by Deborah Young Nakamarra and Katherine Marshall Nakamarra. Half way through the talk I looked around at the whole exhibition and suddenly saw it in a new light. I thought I might tell you about that moment. Artists sometimes tell us the story behind their…
Who Started The Modern Desert Aboriginal Art Movement?
In this article David Wroth discusses the question about who started the modern Desert Aboriginal Art movement – Aboriginal or white Australians? This question was asked at an exhibition of Aboriginal Art in Bucharest, Romania earlier this year. Who Started The Modern Desert Aboriginal Art Movement? I said it was like an accident. In a sense, it was the…
Seeing Aboriginal Art For The First Time Thirty Years On
It is thirty years since I stood in a Perth gallery surrounded by people seeing Aboriginal art for the first time. It was a strange feeling then, to be having that experience again three decades later. This time it was in a Romanian gallery just a few weeks ago. I was there with a major exhibition…
New Survey Exhibition of Aboriginal Art Opens in Bucharest
A new Aboriginal art exhibition “The Dreaming” opened in Bucharest, Romania in October 2015, featuring paintings by over 50 Aboriginal artists and 240 paintings. Major artists exhibiting include Emily Kngwarreye, Tommy Watson, Clifford Possum, Dorothy Napangardi, Walangkura Napanangka, Judy Watson Napangardi, and Ronnie Tjampitjinpa. The artworks include regional styles across Australia, covering the Central and…
The Influence of Batik in Art of Jorna Newberry
This painting is by an artist called Jorna Newberry. Her traditional country is around the tri-state border between Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. These are some of the new paintings that Jorna’s getting ready for an exhibition, and this one is about burning off. We’re looking at a canvas that is two…
Aboriginal Art Exhibition Plants Seeds Of Regeneration In Romania
Aboriginal art event, Romania In October an exhibition of Aboriginal art work featuring several hundred paintings will open in Bucharest in Romania. It is the brainchild of an entrepreneurial executive in Romania who come out to Australia and was entranced by the Aboriginal art. He saw a deep connection between what has happened in Australia and the scenario in his…
A New Generation Share Sacred Women’s Stories
Japingka’s Gallery one is filled with paintings from an amazing family in the Western Desert. The artists are Katherine Marshall Nakamarra & Debra Young Nakamarra. They are the daughters of the equally famous, the late Walangkura Napanangka and these paintings just sing off the wall. They’re very dynamic and they have great energy. The daughters are carrying…
Mijili Napanangka Gibson Masterpiece New York Bound
This week we started saying our good-byes to this really major painting by Mijili Napanangka Gibson. It’s three metres by two metres and it’s an extraordinary colour painting. By most people in the industry, it’s considered to be her masterpiece. She was nearly 80 when she painted it and it took her nearly nine months to paint.…
Yuendumu Men’s Museum and Western Desert Art
In 1971 at the Warlpiri community of Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, the senior men established a Museum as a safehouse for storing culturally sensitive items and artefacts used in ceremony and Law. It also contained murals and sand paintings representing significant Dreaming stories from the various Warlpiri skin groups, comprising images from sacred sites…
The Perpetually Evolving Michelle Possum Nungurrayi
Michelle Possum Nungurrayi Michelle Possum Nungurrayi is the younger daughter of Emily Nakamarra Possum and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Clifford is celebrated as being one of the founding artists of the contemporary indigenous art movement. Michelle was born in Papunya Tula in 1970. Her family moved to Yuelamu, near Mount Allen shortly after. Michelle later married…
Rosella Namok’s Feeling For The Rain
Rosella Namok lives in Cairns, Queensland. She paints about her home near the Lockhart River, a twelve hour drive away. Many of her works feature the monsoon rain. She talks here about her life, her art and what she would like people to enjoy about her work. So you grew up near Lockhart River? Yes,…
Cynthia Burke And Her View From The Sky
Cynthia is a landscape painter from Warakurna community. She learnt to paint from her mother, the late well-known painter Jean Burke. Cynthia’s work celebrates her love of the aerial view of the land from a plane. This will be Cynthia’s first solo exhibition at Japingka and features 13 of her favourite pieces. Here she talks…
Australian Aboriginal Art Symbols and their Meanings
David Wroth, Director of Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, provides a perspective on the use of symbols in Aboriginal art, and introduces Indigenous Australian artists talking about how they use symbols in their own work. Most people will recognise Aboriginal art symbols as being an integral part of Aboriginal artworks, even from the very first exhibition…
Water in Aboriginal Art – the Centre of Life
Water Dreaming by Sarrita King – Jap 012007 One of the great recurring stories in Aboriginal art is the location and presence of water on traditional lands. Over the vast land mass of the Australian continent, much of the country is in dry and water-deprived condition for large parts of the year. Throughout the different…
New Aboriginal Art Education Resource For Schools
We’re excited to be launching our new Aboriginal Art Education Resources page for teachers and educators. The page is designed to make our resources accessible and useful for teachers who want to present lessons that incorporate Aboriginal art. This might be to teach about aspects of Aboriginal art, or where artworks might help illustrate broader…
The Carrolup School and Australian Landscape Painting
The Carrolup School emerged in Western Australia as a distinctive landscape tradition of painting created by school aged Aboriginal children in the 1940s. Its elements of romantic depiction of the bush and bush life may well reflect the needs of the child artists who were removed from their Aboriginal families under government policy. The tradition…